CHAP. LXIX. Of the Vegetable Stone.
I. THe Vegetable Stone is gotten by Virtue of the Fire of Nature, of the Composition of which fire we now intend plainly to treat, and of the way how to work with it, in every respect.
II. [Its Composition is of four things, as Raymundus saith, in his Book of Quintes∣sences: It is a Composition of Sal Amarum, which is Ignis adeptus, a fire that is gotten without Wood or Coal, and by an easie working, does work against all manner of sharpness of Action of the Visible Fire, like as if it were the fire of Hell; and therefore, altho' Wine be hot, yet this water of Mercury is hotter: for it is able to dissolve all Bodies, to putrefie, and also to divide the Elements, which neither common Fire nor Wine can do.]
III. Some think that this Fire of Nature is extracted or drawn from Wine, ac∣cording to the common way, and that it must be rectified by often Distilla∣tions, until its Flegm is wholly abstracted, which hinders its Heat, Virtue,